Epicenter of NASCAR change
The sport's demographic shift is no more evident than in southern California, which now can't get enough of stock cars.
By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 27, 2003
For NASCAR's newest generation of drivers, the 20-somethings taking the sport by storm, Winston Cup racing in southern California is a relatively new venture.
Not to Ricky Rudd.
Twenty years ago, Rudd won for the first time at an old road course outside Los Angeles. He'll never forget Riverside International Raceway and his first trip to Victory Lane.
"There really wasn't an official Victory Lane," said Rudd, a 26-year-old driving for Richard Childress on June 5, 1983. "We were trying to do the Victory Lane stuff and TV was trying to get there, but they didn't have enough cable to get down where they had us set up. That gives you an idea of how much things have changed."
Riverside, which hosted its last NASCAR race in 1988, no longer exists. Neither does Ontario Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile track outside Los Angeles at which NASCAR raced in the 1970s. For years, NASCAR had no presence in southern California.
Now it can't get enough.
California Speedway, a gleaming facility in Fontana, is the site of today's Auto Club 500 and a candidate to receive a second race date for 2004 as NASCAR looks for ways to increase its presence in the nation's largest markets.
"Every week, we're in a race on the track and sponsors are in a race off the track," said Kyle Petty, veteran driver and CEO of Petty Enterprises. "For the sponsors, the races don't get much bigger than southern California."
NASCAR has visited northern California once a year since 1989, rumbling on the road course in Sonoma. But it was thrilled to return to the Los Angeles area, the nation's second-largest market, when racing guru Roger Penske opened state-of-the-art California Speedway in 1997. Its potential still is untapped.
NASCAR officials announced before the season that they planned to "realign" the schedule for 2004 and beyond, encouraging track owners to move races from facilities where ticket sales and amenities lagged to newer facilities in growing markets.
California Speedway is one of several tracks operated by International Speedway Corporation which, like NASCAR, is controlled by Bill France Jr. and his family.
Two other ISC properties, North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham and Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, are candidates to lose one of two race dates each. Swapping a race at Rockingham for one at California fits perfectly into NASCAR's marketing scheme.
But not everyone is excited about the possibility.
Rockingham and Darlington are just a few hours' drive from Charlotte, N.C., where most race shops are located. The possibility of adding another cross-country trip to an already taxing 38-race schedule would no doubt put a strain on teams.
"The market is there, but I can't not wear my car-owner hat when I say you can wear these guys out running them up and down the road," said Bill Elliott, a former team owner who makes his 705th career start today.
"The problem with going to California twice is logistical. You have to leave the shop on Wednesday and not get back until Tuesday morning. It doesn't give you much of a work week. We've got to have some flexibility for the team guys."
NASCAR cannot merely pack enough race cars to make a West Coast swing. Each track is unique, requiring teams to return to the shop each week to load the transporter with cars and equipment.
Still, California is an exciting market for NASCAR, which trails only the National Football League in popularity among U.S. sports fans. Though unable to support even one race 10 years ago, the market now gobbles up the 75,000 seats at California Speedway and yearns for more.
"Growing up on the West Coast, IndyCar racing, off-road racing and motocross were the big things," said driver Jimmie Johnson, a native of nearby El Cajon. "I never was that interested in NASCAR until I got older, simply because they didn't have a lot of races out on the West Coast. Now, there is a huge fan base out there that wants it."
Once again, NASCAR holds the power.
"If California gets a second date, everyone is going to have to buckle down and hang on," driver John Andretti said. "Who knows where the end is. Then again, if they say, "Hey, we're having a race,' everybody is going to be there for it. We'll show up, you know that."
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